Product reviews wield more power than you can ever imagine.
According to a study by Content Marketing Institute and SmartBrief, product reviews are one of the most effective content types for increasing sales.
For affiliate marketers like yourself, your goal is to write and publish review posts that convert readers into buyers so you can get that sweet commission.
If you want to leverage the power of product reviews to grow your income, below are ways on how to write them the right way:
Target your audience
Each product has numerous features.
While there’s no harm in covering them all, doing so will just make it harder and less effective for you.
Not only does it let you exert more effort in writing, but can also bore your audience.
Instead, here’s what you need to do:
Cover the features relevant to your audience.
Talk about highlight features, those that make them tick. Discuss the products’ benefits according to your market’s wants and needs. Make your product useful and interesting to your target market.
Have a specific audience in mind and write the review based on what they need most and find interesting. This lets you create a review that compels your reader to buy them.
Try the product out
This sounds like a given, but nothing beats using the product before writing your review.
Spend time using the product. Learn the product from the inside and out to identify its strengths and weaknesses.
This should provide you with enough information to write an honest and objective review.
Your post should have a more authentic feel because you are writing from experience and not making things up out of thin air.
Another advantage of using the product is you can add exclusive content to your reviews like photos and videos.
For physical products, you will have to go out of your way to buy them.
But if you are reviewing software, you can sign up for a free trial of the tool. Make sure to use it before the trial period ends. Also, take as many screenshots as possible and show a video of yourself using the tool to perform a specific task.
Talk about the downsides of the product
All products, no matter how good, still have drawbacks.
If you read a product review that features only positive comments, you can be sure that the reviewer is lying through his teeth.
You might think that writing about the disadvantages of using the product could less to fewer sales and conversions. And that’s probably true.
But here’s the thing nobody talks about:
Including them in your review makes it more authentic and trustworthy!
These prepare buyers for the product so that they’ll have more knowledge on how to use it.
They’ll also trust you more because you talk about the product’s every detail, even if some are unpleasant.
This reason is why you need to find the best products to review instead of reviewing the bad ones.
The best products have fewer cons, allowing you to focus on the positives.
So even if you talk about the negatives of the products, the positives outweigh them all.
Be visual
Humans are visual beings. We prefer pictures instead of texts.
Therefore, use this to your advantage and get visual!
People will always stop reading once they see a photo. Not only does this make the review more interesting, but it also makes it more understandable.
Here’s an example of a visual created by Robbie Richards for his Thrive Leads review:
You don’t have to read the post after seeing this. The visual provides everything you need to know about the product, and it only takes you seconds to process the information!
There are different tools you can use to create stunning visuals to accompany your review posts.
You can also create the graphics yourself.
For instance, you can create your visuals from design templates at Venngage. This way, you don’t have to start from scratch. Also, you can create beautiful content even without design experience.
Write a useful and helpful review
Majority of affiliate marketers are going to write a review of a product they’ve never used. There’s nothing wrong with this practice.
The real problem stems from the fact that some marketers write reviews for the sake of making a sale.
They will write a positive review of the product they haven’t tried yet just to get visitors to click on their link and buy the product.
This is deceptive and disingenuous.
At the very least, and if you truly want to make money from product reviews, here’s the secret:
Your review should be based on facts.
If you can’t get your hands on the product for whatever reason, draw information from different reliable sources and merge it with your opinion.
Offer valuable insights about the product you’re reviewing using the details at hand.
Again, it’s best to purchase or try out the service before writing your review. But if you can “fake” it by producing a useful review for your audience, then run with it!
Wrapping it up
Writing an affiliate product review is a challenging task. You walk through a fine line between giving factual observations and salesmanship. Letting people click the link and buy from it while maintaining credibility and objectivity is tricky.
However, this article makes it easier. Just remember that affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to generate income from your blog. Your hard work will eventually pay off as long as you bring out your best.
Following the tips mentioned will not only increase conversion but will also make your blog a more credible source for reviews. Just remember to give your best. When you do, then you’ll surely earn big, fast cash in no time.